Southern Fried Chicas

This week’s gonna be the same as the last.  Comment on what interests you and ignore what doesn’t. If nothing inspires you, just say hello or talk about whatever is on your mind.

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HUNG

That’s the title of HBOs new series. It’s about a down on his luck guy who becomes a gigolo to make ends meet. Oh, and he’s supposedly hung like a bull.

TONS OF QUESTIONS ON THIS ONE:  Does size matter? Or is it the motion of the ocean that gets the job done? Have you watched this show? Do you plan on watching it? Would a gigolo work as a hero for a non-erotica romance story?

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HARLEQUIN TEEN

This new imprint looks promising, however YPulse has doubts, saying that the line may fall prey to the Harlequin stigma/stereotype of heaving bosoms and ripped bodices. I think it’s all in the way the books are marketed. BTW, some of HT’s authors described their upcoming releases and they ALL sounded very intriguing.  Here’s an excerpt from HT guidelines:

Length: 50,000 – 100,000 words
Senior Editor: Natashya Wilson
Editorial Office: New York

We’re looking for commercial, high-concept stories that capture the teen experience and will speak to readers with power and authenticity. All subgenres are welcome, so long as the book delivers a relevant reading experience that will resonate long after the book’s covers are closed. We expect that many of our stories will include a compelling romantic element.

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THINK BEFORE YOU TWEET

Without naming names, an author recently got so PO’ed at a reviewer that she posted the critic’s name, email address and phone number on Twitter.

After tweeting, “Now any idiot can be a critic,” she asked her fans to respond to the critic’s review of her book. Obviously the author went a bit too far in the heat of the moment, but I guess it’s not hard to type before you think on Twitter. It’s live, ya know?

Do you use Twitter, and if so, have you ever put something out there that you regretted seconds later?  If not, have you ever written something on the internet that you wish you hadn’t?

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YOUR NIGHTSTAND

What are you reading now?  Me? I’m reading Keeper of the Dream by Penelope Williamson.

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MARKET UPDATE FROM THE INTERN
More things that are apparently hot right now:

HOT: Repentance. e.g. “You’ve been very, very bad! Here’s how to be good!” This trend started with diet books, spread to financial books about “repenting” from your naughty subprime mortgage-taking ways, and is now manifesting itself in a “green” light: “you’ve been very, very bad to the earth”…

HOT: Abundance: “Wait, don’t get rich appreciate what you already have!” Weirdly, INTERN has been noticing that books about abundance tend to be in hard-cover with thick paper stock, to make them seem weighty and, you know, abundant…with pages…

HOT: Teenage detectives. Do they ever get old?

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STILL MOURNING MICHAEL … FOREVER

While I never met Michael Jackson, his death affected me in surprising ways. To the point that it’s taken me days to finally figure out why I’m still upset over his loss.  This realization has taught me a lot about the power of music and how it binds itself to our souls … forever.

Speaking of souls, C.S Lewis once wrote, “You don’t have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body. With that point in mind, I think it’s safe to say that Michael’s music is permanently fused to my being and will always be part of who I am.  Me, a living Soul.  This is why I think his death hit me so hard because whole pieces of my past are tied to him.

As a child, I used to wake up early on Saturday mornings to watch the Not only that, but his music was a constant on the bus radio as I went to elementary school.  His posters adorned the walls of my childhood bedroom and my college dorm.  If you want specifics, I’ll Be There was playing the first time I danced with a boy.  Then there was Ben the movie.  The theme song (which garnered Michael a Grammy nomination) was the first record I ever bought for myself.  I remember because I had to use my allowance money.  My mom refused buy it for me.  Something about my report card…. 

Years later, during the summer that my late father gave me my first car, Billie Jean was number one on the charts. A month earlier (May of that same year), I was in front of the TV in my parents’ living room mad as hell because Dad said he wasn’t buying me a car.  (I didn’t know he was lying because he wanted to surprise me) I remember sitting on the floor shoving Tastykake Krimpets and Orange Crush down my throat while Michael made history during Motown 25.  His performance of Billie Jean earned him an Emmy nomination. That was the night he first did the moonwalk on national TV.  I wasn’t so mad at Dad afterward because Michael had lifted my spirits.

The Way You Make Me Feel calls to mind a guy I had a secret crush on when I was a teen, a guy who never knew I existed.  Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough was on a looped tape that played all day at Merry-Go-Round, the retail clothing store I used to work at during high school and college.  Whenever I hear the song, I’m right back in the mall chatting up customers about 2-for-1 sales and designer jeans. The Lady In My Life reminds me of my first love because it was playing on the radio the first time I did the deed in college. Then there’s Thriller, Beat It and a ton of other MJ songs that never fail to drop me right back into a particular place in my life, a place in the past.

This is why I’m still mourning Michael because he has been part of me since forever. He and his music are stitched into my life’s fabric. Like Pavlov’s dogs, I can’t hear one of his songs without having an involuntary reaction—which in my case is a specific memory. I guess that’s the beauty (and tragedy) of music, you know? It has a way of binding itself to the Soul.  Talk about indelible impressions.

What specific memories does Michael’s music (or any song for that matter) conjure up for you?